Abstract
It has become urgent to develop cost-effective and clean technologies for the rapid and efficient treatment of food waste leachate, caused by the rapid accumulation of food waste volume. Moreover, to face the energy crisis, and to avoid dependence on non-renewable energy sources, the investigation of new sustainable and renewable energy sources from organic waste to energy conversion is an attractive option. Green energy biohydrogen production from food waste leachate, using a microbial pathway, is one of the most efficient technologies, due to its eco-friendly nature and high energy yield. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the ability of an enriched bacterial mixture, isolated from forest soil, to enhance hydrogen production from food waste leachate using biochar. A lab-scale analysis was conducted at 35 °C and at different pH values (4, no adjustment, 6, 6.5, 7, and 7.5) over a period of 15 days. The sample with the enriched bacterial mixture supplemented with an optimum of 10 g/L of biochar showed the highest performance, with a maximum hydrogen yield of 1620 mL/day on day three. The total solid and volatile solid removal rates were 78.5% and 75% after 15 days, respectively. Acetic and butyrate acids were the dominant volatile fatty acids produced during the process, as favorable metabolic pathways for accelerating hydrogen production.
Highlights
The development of clean, sustainable energy has attracted significant attention in the recent decades, owing to severe environmental pollution, the gradual depletion of fossil fuels, and excessive greenhouse gas emissions
This wastewater is preferentially treated by anaerobic fermentation (AF), due to its high biodegradability and moisture content, to produce important products, such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and hydrogen [3,4]
The three bacterial strains (V1, V2, and V3) identified through 16S rRNA sequencing were found to belong to the genera Rossellomorea and Bacillus
Summary
The development of clean, sustainable energy has attracted significant attention in the recent decades, owing to severe environmental pollution, the gradual depletion of fossil fuels, and excessive greenhouse gas emissions. The biological production of hydrogen is more attractive, as it can be performed at ambient temperatures and pressures, with less energy consumed, and is more environmentally friendly [1,2]. Food waste leachate (FWL) is a major secondary wastewater pollutant generated by FW during the decomposition process; studies on bioenergy production from FWL have been limited. This wastewater is preferentially treated by anaerobic fermentation (AF), due to its high biodegradability and moisture content, to produce important products, such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and hydrogen [3,4]. Advances in AF technologies have been made to better utilize the capacity of resource conversion from FWL, the field continues to face numerous limitations, such as reaction
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